Huskers escape with 72-68 win over Eastern Illinois

Tim Miles wanted to make sure his team knew what it was getting itself into as it prepared for Saturday night’s regular-season opener vs. Eastern Illinois.

A squad that had just upset Illinois in exhibition play a couple weeks earlier, the Panthers came to Pinnacle Bank Arena and gave the Huskers all they could handle for the full 40 minutes.

It wasn’t until junior guard Glynn Watson iced the game with four straight free throws in the final seconds that Nebraska could finally exhale with a 72-68 victory to start the year.

The Huskers were their own worst enemy more often than not in the game, shooting just 59 percent (23-of-39) from the charity stripe and 38.6 percent (22-of-57) from the field, and tied a much smaller EIU team with 43 rebounds apiece.

"I think we came out with a lot of energy," senior guard Evan Taylor said. "Some first-game jitters, for me personally, too, but they're an experienced team, a really good team. They wanted to score and didn’t lay down.

"Once we understood that we were going to have to grind and keep going and keep us staying positive the whole game. We could always get better with urgency, but it's a good start."

Choppy offense and poor rebound once again led to a slow start for Nebraska, as the Huskers once again saw multiple extended scoring and field goal droughts that allowed Eastern Illinois to lead for a good portion of the first half.

The Huskers shot 41.9 percent from the field in the half, but that was aided by them making their final three attempts, which included a transition dunk by junior guard James Palmer with 34 seconds left before halftime.

The Panthers kept it a one-possession game with a jumper by Montell Goodwin with four seconds left to make it 34-33.

Sophomore forward Isaiah Roby was by far the player of the half for NU, as he filled up the box score with seven points, five rebounds, five blocks and a steal in 13 minutes of work.

Nebraska again came out ice cold offensively to start the second half, and a four-minute scoring drought allowed the Panthers to take their biggest lead of the night at 54-48 with just over nine minutes to play.

Luckily for the Huskers, Eastern Illinois returned the favor with an extended shooting slump of its own from there, going more than six minutes without a field to help NU go on a 6-0 run to tie it up with six minutes left.

The Huskers were able to keep EIU at arm's length over the next few minutes and eventually took their biggest lead yet at 64-59 on a jumper by Watson with 1:33 to play.

Taylor added two free throws that increased the lead to 66-59 with 46 seconds left, but just when it seemed like Nebraska had put the game away, Eastern Illinois refused to go down quietly.

The Huskers continued to struggle at the charity stripe and D’Angelo Jackson capitalized with five points in a span of 11 seconds to cut it to 68-66 with 11 seconds remaining.

That’s when Watson stepped up with the biggest shots of the night, knocking down four straight free throws in the final 10 seconds to seal the win.

"I was just trying to get fouled, to be honest," Watson said. "They were in the bonus. They told us to attack. My shot wasn't falling tonight, so I was just trying to get to the rim and draw fouls, and try to make my free throws."

Watson ended the night with a game-high 21 points and was 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Taylor and Palmer finished with 12 points each, while Roby ended up with a final line of 11 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks and a steal.

The Huskers will get right back to work on Monday night when they host North Texas for a 7 p.m. tip.

1. Free throws nearly cost NU

Had Nebraska been able to make its free throws at an even remotely respectable clip, this game wouldn’t have been close. Yet the Huskers left 16 points at the line with missed with free throws, including some important shots late in the game that could have made the ending much less stressful. Taylor continues to have his issues at the stripe, as he went 6-of-11, and Palmer was uncharacteristically inefficient as well, going just 3-of-7 along with his 4-of-14 night from the field. Nebraska still isn’t a good enough offensive team to leave that many easy points unclaimed.

2. Watson saves the day

Watson was having a relatively off night for much of the game, but when his team absolutely needed him the most, he answered the call in a major way. With the Huskers trailing 54-48 with under eight minutes to go, Watson got the rally going with an assist for a 3-pointer by Thomas Allen and then knocked down a 3 of his own to tie the game. A few minutes later he buried two straight jumpers to push NU’s lead up to five with 1:33 remaining. Finally, the Illinois native stepped up and made five of his final six free throws in the last 21 seconds to preserve the win.

3. Roby grew up a bit

While Watson was the hero at the end, it was Roby’s all-around production that kept Nebraska afloat through the first half and on through the second. A player whose biggest issue right now is a lack of confidence, the sophomore put together his best total game as a Husker, finishing with a +24 efficiency rating in 26 minutes of play. Roby also registered his first-career double-double and set career highs in rebounds and blocks. He definitely wasn’t perfect, as he committed a terrible foul on an EIU layup with 11 seconds left that cut the lead to 68-66. But Saturday night was a glimpse of the type of player Roby could be once it all comes together.